Themes and theme colors do not apply

[yoddledooddle]

Version: 2008
Operating System: Mac OS X 10.4 (Tiger)
Processor: Power PC

I don't know if I'm getting the wrong idea from the Office 2008 website that the new version can do these things, but I thought I'd ask anyway:

I am using Office 07 on the PC and noticed that they have different style sets for headers and so on, and apparently there is such a feature on the 08 version for Mac as well - it's called Themes? I've been using the 04 version and just upgraded for the sake of upgrading, but thought I'd try that new feature anyway. Nothing happens to the fonts, colors, anything when I select a document theme though. Then I tried typing some text, and then selecting a theme, still nothing. Highlighted everything, then selected another theme. Guess what? Nothing.

I'm not sure if the Theme feature is supposed to work that way, but I got the impression that it was supposed to change the heading fonts/colors according to the theme's color sets? Or am I expecting too much from Office 08?

 

[Anonymous]

I think yours and my expectations are being cruelly dashed. Like you, I am having problems with themes. I can neither apply default themes nor those I have created and saved, despite meticulously following the how-tos.

I also find the loss of functionallty frustrating. My current bug bear is the status bar. I have created a keystroke for overtype, which is I find invaluable as I am a trained typist, but when I use the keystroke overtype does not appear in the status bar. In fact the only thing displayed in the status bar is track changes, which I never ever use and would advise against if you intend e-mailing your document. Word 2008 looks better than word 2004 granted, but I have paid a pretty hefty price for a word processor which I cannot customise according to my needs.

Questions posed on the forum are answered in a very high handed manner as if they are outraged that we have dared to raise legitimate questions.

I am seriously thinking of returning to Office 2004 and this giving 2008 up as a thoroughly bad lot.

Aggrieved
iMac G5, 10.4.11 :angry:

 

[CyberTaz]

I think you may be confusing the Building Blocks aspect of Quick Parts in
2007 with Document Themes. Mac Office 2008 wasn't "blessed" with Quick
Parts, & Document Themes in 2008 are similar to those in 2007, but not
identical.

Document Themes are basically similar to Cascading Style Sheets - They do
not directly change the formatting in your document unless you apply Styles.
Their specifications are keyed to the built-in Styles in Word (Heading 1,
Heading 2, Body Text, etc.). If you apply those styles to your content the
fonts & color schemes will update throughout the document dependent on the
Document Theme you choose. If you choose a different Document Theme all
content to which it applies will be changed accordingly (again, throughout
the document). IOW, if you've simply typed some content it is formatted as
Normal Paragraph Style which is not influenced by Document Themes & will not
be affected by a Document Theme until you have Styles applied to your text.

To get a clearer idea of how it works, open the Styles section of the
Formatting Palette & watch what happens *there* as you select different
Document Themes... Even if the doc is blank at the time.

BTW - Document Themes also maintain color & font coordination with SmartArt
Graphics if you include any Charts or Diagrams.

HTH |:>)
Bob Jones
[MVP] Office:Mac

 

[CyberTaz]

Hello Pamela -

Please have a look at my reply to the OP of this thread & see if that helps
at all regarding Document Themes. If not come back with specific details &
we'll have a closer look Other comments follow in line:

I think yours and my expectations are being cruelly dashed. Like you, I am
having problems with themes. I can neither apply default themes nor those I
have created and saved, despite meticulously following the how-tos.

I also find the loss of functionallty frustrating. My current bug bear is
the status bar. I have created a keystroke for overtype, which is I find
invaluable as I am a trained typist, but when I use the keystroke overtype
does not appear in the status bar. In fact the only thing displayed in the
status bar is track changes, which I never ever use and would advise
against if you intend e-mailing your document. Word 2008 looks better than
word 2004 granted, but I have paid a pretty hefty price for a word
processor which I cannot customise according to my needs.

That omission from the Status Bar as well as others is certainly a
legitimate gripe - it has been brought to the attention of MacBU, but it
would further the cause if you'd take a moment to use Help> Send Feedback to
describe what items you would like to have reinstated & why.

As a temporary (or long term) workaround yo can go to the Customize dialog &
add the Overtype command to a toolbar - even if you don't use it to toggle
the feature on/off it will still serve as a visual indicator of the status
of the feature.

Questions posed on the forum are answered in a very high handed manner as
if they are outraged that we have dared to raise legitimate questions.

Not sure what you mean by this. With the insurgence of postings generated by
the new release there may not b as much casual banter as usual, but that
hardly equates to "high handed". People are getting the responses they
require - and keep in mind that time for many of the MVPs has been quite
limited due to attending the Summit in Seattle last week - where we were
collectively interfacing with MacBU in an effort to have many of these same
issues addressed in as timely a manner as possible.

 

[yoddledooddle]

I was looking at this tutorial the other day:

<http://mac.microsoft.com/MacOffice/...rget=8d2bf072-82cd-4a4f-905e-8b11fa9156731033>

You can find the page on this site. Just search the term "themes" in the Help and How To section and a tutorial titled Design Great-looking Documents with Themes will appear. The sub-section, Apply Your Custom Theme To A Word Document, is apparently a lie. I followed all the steps but it never worked?

Also, I've tried selecting the themese and looking at the Styles box in the formatting palette. Your're right, the Headings and such change *a little*. I stress this because they are mostly the wrong font (I need to change change the fonts myself to get what I want - then why do I need a themes setting for?) and the theme colors never apply.

I believe that there are several themes with font colors that are *not* black, but geez, the color never changes. It is as if Office 08 forbids users to use anything but black for its fonts no matter how you change the theme. Interesting.

So in all, I'm very intrigued how the people who created the abovementioned tutorial got the last picture with the themes and font colors applied properly and still made it sound like doing so was a breeze.

My guess is that eithe the tutorial made me expect too much from this new installment of Office, or something's definitely very broken.

 

[CyberTaz]

Please see the in line comments below:

I was looking at this tutorial the other day:


<http://mac.microsoft.com/MacOffice/en-US/Help/8d2bf072-82cd-4a4f-905e-8b11fa9
156731033.mspx?MODE=pv&CTT=InContent&srcid=998a9fbe-7608-4485-8abb-109381bf32a
81033&ep=4&locale=en-US&usid=c660182f-3d85-4e86-96d6-d8fdbffb96bf&clr=99-1-0&t
arget=8d2bf072-82cd-4a4f-905e-8b11fa9156731033>

You can find the page on this site. Just search the term "themes" in the Help
and How To section and a tutorial titled Design Great-looking Documents with
Themes will appear. The sub-section, Apply Your Custom Theme To A Word
Document, is apparently a lie. I followed all the steps but it never worked?

I'm afraid you'll have to provide something more specific than "apparently a
lie" and "it never worked" I just went through the steps [again] without
any deviation from what was stated & expected. I've created 5 Themes in both
Word & in PPt with no difficulty applying a theme created in one to a doc in
the other. [See a suggestion below.]

Also, I've tried selecting the themese and looking at the Styles box in the
formatting palette. Your're right, the Headings and such change *a little*.

"A little"? I'm not sure what you expect. The Font, Font Size, Font Color &
other Font Formatting (Bold, Italic, etc.) change - those effects are part
of a Theme's specs. Also, any charts or SmartArt graphics are reformatted
based on the color & font scheme of the Theme. Attributes or elements that
aren't encompassed by the Theme will not change - but that's to be expected.

I stress this because they are mostly the wrong font (I need to change change
the fonts myself to get what I want - then why do I need a themes setting
for?) and the theme colors never apply.

Using fonts other than the ones in the list is not a proffered option in Mac
Office 2008 Document Themes. I can't recall if it is in Win Office 2007.

I believe that there are several themes with font colors that are *not* black,
but geez, the color never changes. It is as if Office 08 forbids users to use
anything but black for its fonts no matter how you change the theme.
Interesting.

Of the 50 default Document Themes in Word there are only about 6 that use a
font color of Black or even Dark Gray for Headings & Captions. Body text
(Normal para style) is just the opposite because paragraphs of colored text
are an eyesore... expensive to print and very difficult to read.

So in all, I'm very intrigued how the people who created the abovementioned
tutorial got the last picture with the themes and font colors applied properly
and still made it sound like doing so was a breeze.

Again, following the steps produces the expected results here. The only
thing I find to be les than explicit in the tutorial is the fact that Styles
*must* be applied to the content of the doc in order for the Theme to know
where to apply what changes.

My guess is that eithe the tutorial made me expect too much from this new
installment of Office, or something's definitely very broken.

I honestly don't know what the tutorial might lead anyone else to expect,
but I see Document Themes as a means of completely, quickly & consistently
reformatting any well-designed document with a single click. This is
especially beneficial for those who need to generate numerous documents
using the same specifications. For anyone just looking to format one
particular document or who chooses to differently format every document they
create I wouldn't expect Themes to be of as much value.

Regards |:>)
Bob Jones
[MVP] Office:Mac